


if you stare at the darkness for too long, the darkness might stare back

by angielovesmintchocolate



Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: Elf/Human Relationship(s), Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, M/M, Mark is whipped, So is Yuta, also haechan has rainbow hair uwu, but mark knows nothing about them, but nothing weird i promise, haechan is a sassy little shit, haechan loves flowers, he is also lonely for a while, johnny is the best friend in the world, johten are like the parents of mark, markhyuck cutest babies, somehow marks parents aren't home the whole time don't ask me about it, thankfully yuta does so it's all cool in the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:55:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29804622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angielovesmintchocolate/pseuds/angielovesmintchocolate
Summary: haechan is an elf that takes care of abadoned/badly tended gardens. one day he stumbles upon the Lee garden and decides to scare the boy who's still up at late at night. he might as well invites himself for tea.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Nakamoto Yuta, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Kudos: 24





	if you stare at the darkness for too long, the darkness might stare back

Just a glance at the darkness and Mark thinks he's hallucinating, because there are eyes. There is a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring right back at him. The yellow dots slowly approached, and with a loud bang, a pair of hands landed on Mark's window. Slowly, a hooded figure rised, showing himself from inch to inch and Mark was just standing frozen, trying not to pass out in fear.

But the next thing he saw, was surprisingly not a bloody, monster head, but a face of a boy. A boy with round cheeks and sparkling deep brown eyes that were partially hidden under his rainbow-highlight bangs.

"Boo!" he yelled, scaring the shit out of Mark, who threw a book at him by reflex. The boy then stood up, rubbing his head with a frown on his face. "Why did you have to throw a book at me?"

"You scared me." Mark shrugged, taking the book from the boy with a coy smile.

"Is this how you treat peaceful elves who take care of your garden, huh?" the boy -well, elf- frowned, placing both of his hands on his hips.

"A what?" Mark asked, confusion written all over his face as he looked at the eye-rolling elf, who was still standing in the darkness.

"Jesus, just let me in and then we can talk about me. Quick or else I will get noticed by your neighbours." the elf demanded, moving to climb inside through Mark's window.

"Yo, what are you doing, we have a door." Mark exclaimed, trying to stop the elf by pushing him back slightly, earning a yelp from the rainbow haired boy. After landing on the ground with a loud thud, the elf fixed a scornful look to Mark, rubbing his arms. With an apologetic smile, Mark spoke again. "Come on, I'm gonna let you in through the entrance."

The elf greeted with a small wave as Mark opened the door and stepped in with a grateful smile on his face.

"You are as tall as me!" Mark gaped, surprised by the elf's height as he watched the visitor happily occupy one of the green armchairs.

"Of course I am, dumbass. I'm a forest elf, not a goblin." he rolled his eyes, starting to munch on a carrot he previously harvested from Mark's garden.

"What are you even talking about?" Mark asked, staring at the elf like it's some kind of extraterrestrial being that just landed with it's UFO.

"Honey, just pour me a cup of tea and we can talk, because, looks like you know nothing about magical creatures." the elf mused, gesturing the kitchen with his hand.

"What kind?" Mark blurted, searching through a huge box filled with tea-filters. When the elf didn't answered and only blinked at him, Mark sighed. "What kind of tea do you like?"

The eyes of the rainbow haired boy widened with surprise and he quickly jogged next to Mark to admire the huge collection of tea. "There is more than just one tea flavour?"

"Of course! You can have forest berries, citron, mint, earl grey, black, sun moon lake and I could go on and on." Mark softly explained as he let the elf take over the box, watching how carefully the boy touched the filters. Then, he elf placed a cherry flavoured filter into Mark's palm and followed the human to watch as he poured water into the kettle and put it up to boil. "By the way, why were you out this late?"

"Well, my job is to take care of abandoned or wrongly groomed gardens and yours happens to be one of them. Not to shade, but your family quite frankly doesn't know how to take care of plants."

"Ouch." 

"Sorry, but someone had to say it." the elf shrugged, and patted Mark's shoulder. The human then moved to take the already whistling kettle off the gas and pour the hot water into the teapot. He carefully dipped the filter into the steaming water and shortly, a cherry hue started colouring the transparent liquid, filling the water with taste. The elf watched with an open-mouthed stare, squatting next to the table to admire the magic of tea from up close. "This is amazing."

"Right?" the elf desperately nodded, baiting a bubbly chuckle out of Mark. "And why do you do gardening at night?" 

"It's safer. In the dark no one can see me, and I can't really risk the dangers of humans finding out that we exist."

"But now I know what you are." Mark mentioned, putting some teacups onto the table, while gesturing the chair for the rainbow haired boy to sit down.

The elf clicked his tongue, visibly thinking Mark's words through as he occupied the chair. Then, he dramatically ran his narrowed eyes up and down the human's body before he shrugged, starting to speak. "Well, you don't seem like somebody who would spill my secret, considering that I will be gone in an hour and you will think that this whole thing was just a dream."

"True." Mark nodded, carefully spilling the tea onto the elf's cup. "And, do you have a name?"

"Haechan." the elf - well, Haechan - smiled, flashing the cutest gummy smile Mark has ever seen. "And you?"

"Mark."

"That's a name I have never heard. Are you not korean?" Haechan asked, raising his eyebrows in curiousity as he slowly sipped the tea.

"I came from America. But my parents are koreans, I just lived there."

"Interesting." the elf whispered, eyes gleaming as he looked at Mark. "Then that's why you are so handsome."

"You- you think I'm handsome?" the human breathed, dilated eyes looking at the now smirking elf.

"Sure." 

"Well, I also think you are pretty handsome." Mark admitted, shyly scratching the back of his head as a blush creeped onto his cheeks.

"And what do you like about me?" Haechan asked, leaning in with a playful gleam in his chocolate brown eyes.

"I-uh." Mark panicked, blush on his cheeks colouring even darker. The elf just leaned back, satisfied with the effect he had on the now very flustered human.

"It's cool if you can't say anything, don't stress about it." Haechan commented, putting the now empty glass mug down with a satisfied smile. "Well, thank you for the tea, Makeu. I better get going now, there are lots of abandoned gardens I need to take care of."

"M'kay." Mark breathed as he followed the elf to the doorway. "It was, uh- nice having you."

"You are a great company, too." Haechan said softly as he quickly put his shoes on.

"I wish we could spend more time."

Standing up, the elf had a caring pout on his plump lips. "Oh Makeu, don't be sad. See, whenever you'll look at your garden, I will be with you, okay?"

"Okay." Mark mumbled, kicking the ground with his socked feet, not brave enough to meet with Haechan's gaze.

"Then farewell, Mark." Haechan whispered, leaning in to place a small peck onto Mark's cheek. Then, like the wind, he was gone, as he disappeared into the dark, but still warm summer night. With a lovelorn sigh, Mark closed the door.

The next days, he hadn't been able to take his mind off the rainbow haired elf. He spent more time in their garden than he normally did, even his parents noticed it. He now loved to sit on the ground-touching branches of the old cherry three or watch the beautiful butterflies that flied around his mom's colourful flowers.

"Johnny, what should you do if you miss somebody?" Mark asked, holding his phone to his ear with his shoulder as he prepared his afternoon tea, another habit he picked up because of Haechan's visit.

"This is a very random question, Mark." 

"Just- just answer please." Mark groaned, annoyed by Johnny's teasing.

"First, you have to tell me about your person." Johnny offered, curiousity audiable in his words.

"Well, I met him at a cafè, and we talked, but I forgot to ask for his number." Mark lied, moving to get the kettle off the gas.

"Do you really like this guy?"

"Yes, I do- ah shit!" Mark yelped, as he almost burned his hand from touching the kettle at it's side. He was so invested in the conversation, he wasn't even watching what he was touching.

"You okay?" Johnny asked, tone filled with worry.

"Yeah, yeah, keep going." Mark reassured, sucking on his burnt finger to ease the pain.

"If I was in your place-" Johnny stopped, thinking about a great advice. Then, after a satisfied 'ah!' he started talking again. "I would search his name on social media."

"I don't think he has social media." Mark admitted as he slowly poured the golden liquid into his favourite mug.

"Then, go to that cafè every day until he shows up and you can ask for his number."

"You are genius. Thank you, Johnny." the younger boy couldn't even express his gratefulness in words for his best friend.

"Anytime. Good luck, Markie."

And Mark did exactly what Johnny adviced: he stood by his fully opened window every night, waiting for Haechan to return. But the elf didn't show up, not even a week later.

"Just be patient, Mark." Johnny said again, just like he has said several times when Mark called him every night, exhausted from not sleeping anything.

"This is madness." Mark groaned. It was Sunday again, exactly a week away from that day when Haechan invited himself for tea and occupied Mark's favourite chair, along with his heart. He was standing next to his window again, hands resting on the ledge of the fully opened window.

"Hey, I'm sure he will show up sooner or later. I mean, that cafè is very popular." 

"Right." Mark sighed into the complete numbness of the peaceful summer night. He watched the forms of plants his eyes could take out in the darkness. And just for a moment, Mark saw it. Those familiar rainbow locks, moving through the garden.

After a shocked gasp, Mark quickly said goodbye to Johnny and ran to grab a flashlight. He didn't even bother with such natural things as exiting the house through the door, so he just jumped out of his window. His feet landed on the soft ground and Mark didn't waist any time as he started running towards the quickly deceiving figure of Haechan.

"Haechan, wait!" Mark exclaimed, voice breathy from the running. But the elf didn't stop, not even flinching as Mark kept calling his name until he disappeared into the dark forest, where Mark was too scared to follow him.

+

"So, didn't you find him?" Johnny asked happily as Mark picked his call up the next morning.

"I don't know Johnny, he didn't even stop to look back, he just left." Mark whined, frustrated by not knowing the reason of Haechan's ignorance towards him. There was no way the elf didn't hear Mark. But if he was the first one to (kind of) confess, then why did he run away when Mark was calling for him?

"Maybe he had his airpods in." Ten commented, cuddling up next to Johnny to come into the frame. His boyfriend just smiled at him, placing a soft kiss onto his cheek, baiting a bubbly giggle out of Ten.

"But what if he didn't? How should I draw his attention?" Mark asked, spinning around in his black office chair.

"Well, do something that you know he is interested in." Johnny adviced as he rested his head against Ten's, staring into the camera with a soft expression.

"He said that he likes gardening."

"Oh!" Ten half-exclaimed, scaring the hell out of the slightly dozed Johnny. He quickly caressed his boyfriend's long blonde hair with a whispered apology before turning his attention back to Mark. "Tell him that you bought new flowers and you need his help."

"That- that is an amazing idea, Ten!" Mark gasped, delighted by the perfect advice. The idea was given, now he just had to plan how he is going to attract Haechan back, and even closer to his window.

+

"So we are shopping for flowers?" Yuta asked with raised eyebrows as they entered the supermarket which had the biggest flower section in the town.

"Yup."

"Since when are you into gardening?" the blue haired male wondered with a confused expression as he walked to get a shopping cart, Mark following him suit.

"Since I met a guy who likes it." Mark admitted with a shy tone.

"Oh baby Markie is in love~" Yuta teased, letting go of the shopping cart's holder to pinch Mark's blushing cheeks. "I am so happy for you!"

"Thanks, hyung." Mark mumbled as he followed Yuta to the gardening section of the supermarket. 

The japanese man then looked at Mark with a soft expression on his face. "And, what kind of flower do you want?"

"I- uh. I was thinking about those kind that you can put under your window." 

Yuta raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Mark. You can basically put any flower under your window."

"Oh. Um- that's awkward?"

"Sometimes I can't understand you." Yuta said softly, petting Mark's head with a giggle. He turned to look at the display of multiple species of more and more colourful flowers, gently tracing the leaves of the plants whose tags he was checking. After a few minutes of both Yuta and Mark reading the tags to look for the perfect flower, Yuta stood up with a big smile and a box of purple flowers in his hand. "Look, these petunias are perfect! And they would look really great under your window!"

"They are pretty. I like them." Mark smiled, gently taking the flowers from Yuta. The elder placed another one of the plants inside the cart along with a window-box. After paying and riding the bus with flowers in their hands, Yuta and Mark arrived to the younger's house at the outskirts of the city, which was next to the forest.

"So you just attach this here and then pour the soil." Yuta read the instructions at the side of the window-box, while Mark was struggling with the hammer. "Be careful Markie, I don't want you to hit your-"

"Aaah!" Mark shouted and quickly dropped the hammer to the ground as he reached for his beet red finger which he accidentally hit instead of the nail. Yuta was quick to appear by his side and blow cold air onto his finger. Disappearing inside the house for a moment, he then returned with an ice pack in hand.

"I told you to be careful." he cooed, lightly patting the ice onto Mark's finger.

"Maybe we should have invited your boyfriend to do the assembling part." Mark whined, hissing as the cold ice touched the surface of his skin.

"Jaehyun isn't in town, dummy." Yuta giggled, resuming Mark's halfway abadoned job. He was quick to hit the nail into the wall and attach the window-box with practiced moves. Triumphant smirk on his face, he turned to Mark. "Besides, I am the capable person in the relationship. He's just a big baby."

"You are the coolest person I know, Yuta." the younger sighed like a lovestruck teenage girl, moving to check the box from up close. "And now we just have to fill it with soil?"

"And add the flowers." Yuta added, lips curling into a smile as he watched Mark struggling to pick the huge bag of soil up. After ten minutes, they were ready with the window-box. Around afternoon, Yuta said his goodbyes and left after being attacked with hugs and thank you-s by the overly happy younger.

Now, Mark just had to wait until Haechan showed up. 

Standing in his window again in the complete darkness, he enjoyed as the warm summer wind played with his black locks. His eyes were fixed on the garden where he waited for that one particular elf to show up, not caring about how the sweet scent of the dark purple petunias filled his nostrils.

The human didn't have to wait for long as the rainbow locks appeared, slightly glowing in the darkness, per usual. Mark watched as Haechan pulled some weeds out and gently harvested their blueberry bush. Slowly, the elf got closer and closer, making Mark's heart speed up so much, he was afraid it will explode. 

And finally, his eyes travelled to the window as his nose sensed the sweet scent of the petunias. Mark quickly squatted down, hiding behind the wall, preventing to be noticed. Haechan walked up to gingerly touch the purple petals with his fingers, softly mumbling praises to the flowers. When the elf was reaching for his water can, Mark quickly stood up, leaning on the edge of the window.

"Hi, Haechan." he greeted with a starstruck smile on his face. The elf gasped, quickly standing up to look up at Mark, eyes dilated from the surprise. 

"Please don't run away this time. I'm just asking you to listen to me, okay?" Mark asked, putting his hands up like he was questioned by the police. He only started talking again when Haechan gave a small nod.

"A week ago you asked me what I liked about you, and then I was too shy to say anything." The elf's lips slightly opened, looking at Mark with a surprised expression as the latter leaned on the ledge of the window again, coming even closer than he was.

With a small huff and a whispered 'You can do this Mark' the human continued his speech. "I- I think you have amazing hair."

He stopped to watch the effect of his words on Haechan, and to his delight, the elf's lips curled into a small smile.

"And I- uh, really like your eyes!" the human continued, still mumbling a little, but this time, his words came out much more confident than they did in his previous sentence. Now, Haechan's smile became a wide grin as he looked up at Mark with gleaming eyes.

"You skin is also beautiful!" was what Mark said next, encouraged by Haechan's great reaction. Tilting his head to the side, the eld came closer, waiting for more praises from the boy in the window with a coy smirk.

"And your lips are so plump..." Mark whispered, leaning over the ledge only to stop his face centimeters away Haechan's own. "I want to kiss them so bad right now." he murmured, leaning even closer to connect his lips with Haechan's in a sweet kiss.

+


End file.
